COVER: Cars back up during afternoon weekday traffic on southbound Interstate 45 in Houston north of downtown. PHOTO by BRANDON FORMBY/THE TEXAS TRIBUNE

by BRANDON FORMBY

Weeks after two state senators questioned how billions in voter-approved highway money could be clawed back and spent on other state needs, Texas transportation officials on Wednesday touted a litany of projects they plan to build with the funds.

The Texas Transportation Commission, which oversees the state transportation department, is set to vote this month on its 10-year plan that lays out its long-term strategy for upcoming road projects. Included in that is a $2.5 billion, four-year plan specifically aimed at unclogging choke points in urban areas.

But some of that $2.5 billion in spending will only happen if the Texas Department of Transportation receives all of the funds that Texans in 2015 agreed to dedicate to public roadways and bridges. Proposition 7 was supported by 83 percent of voters and changed the state Constitution to require some taxes collected on car sales to be routed directlyto the State Highway Fund. The change is expected to garner $5 billion for TxDOT in the next two years, some of which would go to the department’s latest urban congestion initiative.

“My fellow commissioners and I view this as a Texas voter mandate,” said transportation commissioner Bruce Bugg, who was appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott.

Lawmakers can reduce the transfer to the highway fund by up to 50 percent through a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate. No one has publicly backed such a move, but key budget writers have privately discussed the option. And at a Senate Finance Committee hearing last month, two state senators — Democrat Kirk Watson of Austin and Republican Charles Schwertner of Georgetown — asked Legislative Budget Board staffers about how such a money transfer might work.

State lawmakers this year have far less money at their discretion when crafting the next two-year budget. Tax cuts in 2015 reduced available state revenues by about $4 billion. And the voter-approved transfer of funds to the highway fund is set to leave even fewer dollars available to put toward areassuch as health care and education.

As TxDOT has been updating its long-range plans, the agency has assumed it will receive all of the Prop 7 money, Bugg said in a conference call with reporters Wednesday.

“We are anticipating where these funding streams are going to be coming from and how to place these funding streams on projects that are so desperately needed in the five major metropolitan areas,” he said.

Bugg added that TxDOT needs to keep pace with expected population growth, particularly in the state’s urban areas. He pointed to Abbott’s proposed budget, which calls for directing all of the Prop 7 funds to TxDOT as voters intended.

Here’s a look at the $2.5 billion in urban congestion projects that TxDOT plans to tackle if the transportation commission approves the agency’s long-term transportation plan later this month:

Austin area

Location: Interstate 35 from Rundberg Lane to U.S. Highway 183Project: Implement improvements to connections, pavement and bicycle and pedestrian areasCost: $133.3 million

Location: Interstate 35 from south of Holly Street to north of OltorfProject: Implement improvements to ramps, pavement, bicycle and pedestrian areas and frontage road intersectionsCost: $162.3 million

Location: U.S. Highway 183 from State Highway 45 to State Highway Loop 1Project: Build two general purpose lanesCost: $120 million